Image of the Fendahl - Episode 1

Ok so I was quite surprised that I enjoyed ‘The Invisible Enemy’ as much as I did and I thought that I would be more likely to enjoy this story as a result. However its amazing what a night’s sleep can do and my enthusiasm for this story has waned ever so slightly. It’s perfectly possible that this would work in the same way as enemy but only time would tell. Chris Boucher has written this story following his double header at the beginning of Louise Jameson’s time on the show. George Spenton-Foster makes his debut as a director. The thing that this story has in its favour is that its an earth story and also is quite atmospheric which is very much like the Philip Hinchcliffe era.

Fun fact: This story features Benedict Cumberbatch’s mom (Wanda Ventham) and also Raquel’s dad (Denis Lill) from Only Fools and Horses.

Fun fact #2: This is the 20^th story for Tom Baker as the Doctor. He is just one behind Patrick Troughton (21), Four behind Jon Pertwee (24) and nine behind William Hartnell (29).

The first six minutes or so show me why I may have been wrong about this story. It’s very atmospheric, creepy and well performed. The story is set in some research house where a group of scientists are doing work and not understanding what they are doing (like most scientists in tv drama). Due to the fact that Denis Lill (Fendelman) and Wanda Ventham (Thea Ransome) are the more familiar faces, these are the two more interesting performances.

Louise Jameson is sporting a new costume (one for the dads clearly) and a new hairdo which just looks weird and I think is going to be a distraction during these stories. This is her 23^rd episode and whilst she’s been in the show a while it doesn’t feel like the character has settled into the show. I don’t know whether this is because the Doctor hasn’t warmed to her but there is just something that doesn’t quite work. It’s funny because if you listen to Louise Jameson on the Big Finish audios (especially with Tom Baker), she’s a lot better and that’s because the writing is better.

The Doctor and Leela spend a lot of time walking around the woods nearby and don’t interact with anyone else. This is a Boucher trait because if you think about it for a large chunk of his previous stories, the Doctor doesn’t interact with anyone. It didn’t take very long for K9 to be written out of the story because in the first scene with the Doctor and Leela, he is in pieces. Good.

I wont pretend to understand what was going on but in a way that doesn’t really matter because the whole episode moved along and was pitched in just the right way that I could just go along with it and enjoy it. I think that this episode doesn’t really want to get too bogged down in what’s going on but just create a lot of intrigue and mystery about the setting and the people who are messing with forces they don’t understand.

Now this episode features one of those cliffhanger in Doctor Who that doesn’t quite make sense. I’ll talk about it more in the next episode but as it is here, the Doctor is frozen to the spot with something coming towards it and Leela is about to meet the end of a shotgun. As cliffhanger’s go it has to be one of the best in this season so far and if I were watching this in 1977 then I would definelty be wanting to know what happens next Saturday as it is, I will have to wait just 24 hours (maybe a bit more due to work commitments) but at least the entertainment is there. Maybe I will like this as much as I enjoyed the previous story. Season fifteen is surprising me and I quite like that. I knew Horror of Fang Rock was going to be a good one but that’s three stories in a row where the quality has been high. Maybe Graham Williams is a better producer of the show than I had previously given him credit for.